Women, Islam & Equality

A publication of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council
of
Resistance of Iran.

Correspondence address: B.P. 18, 95430 Auvers-sur-Oise, France

INTRODUCTION

Much has been written about Iran's contemporary history and the Iranian
people's struggle for freedom and social justice over the last 100 years.
Historians, Iranian and non-Iranian alike, have addressed this period in
great detail, from the reign of the first Qajar king to the Constitutional
Movement in 1906, to the rise to power of the Pahlavi monarchs (1920-1952,
1953 to 1979) and finally, the Iranian Revolution that ended the monarchy
in Iran.

In these portrayals of Iran's history, however, the role of Iranian women in
the century-long struggle for freedom and democracy has been virtually
ignored. While the active and conspicuous participation of women in the
anti-shah movement is still fresh in the minds of Iranians and students of
Iranian affairs, what women did before the revolution and what they are
doing now are stories left untold. Regrettably, there has been little, if any,
attempt to systematically examine the role and situation of women during
the Pahlavi regime and the theocracy that followed, or within the resistance
movement that has now entered its 14th year.

Historians have also failed to address in a meaningful way another issue of
paramount significance: The role and rights which Islam, as the religion of
the overwhelming majority of Iranians, ascribes to women. It was widely
accepted in the nineteenth century that Islam viewed women as subordinate
to men. The 50-year Pahlavi dictatorship of Reza Khan and his son, the last
shah of Iran, offered no genuine progress in Iranian women's rights, despite
advances elsewhere in the world on women's issues and recognition by the
international community of many aspects of their equality. The Pahlavi
tyrants simply imposed certain aspects of western culture on Iran's women
which served the interests of their despotic reign. Compulsory unveiling
and hollow reforms are examples. In their confrontation with the genuine
cultures of Iran and Islam, specifically their approach to women, the shahs'
primary objective was to keep women and men away from social and
political struggle against their regime.

The successors to the monarchy, Khomeini and his retinue, came to power
with the promise of restoring Islam and the shari'a. Their actions since the
1979 revolution, however, have been more harmful to Islam than their
predecessors, as they perpetrated and tried to justify their flagrant crimes
under the cloak of religion. It is not without reason that the Resistance
movement that defied Khomeini and is striving for a secular form of
government has, at its core, a Muslim, Shiite movement which in theory
and practice has achieved unparalleled success in realizing women's
equality with men.

This book addresses some of these issues. It must, however, be said at the
outset that it was impossible to deal, in so few pages, with a profound topic
of such importance in a manner that would have done the subject justice.
Nevertheless, the pages that follow reflect an attempt to at least raise an
issue that affects not only the lives of 30 million Iranian women, but
perhaps the lives as well of hundreds of millions of Muslim women
worldwide.

The first chapter offers a brief recounting of the history of the Iranian
women's movement from 1895, with the beginning of the Tobacco
Movement. It then charts the course of women's activities during the
Constitutional Revolution of 1906, when the first women's associations and
societies took shape. A brief account of the role of women during the 20-year
reign of Reza Khan, beginning in 1920, is followed by a summary of
women's situation after the rise to power of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who
ruled Iran from 1941 until 1952 and then again from 1953 to 1979.

The second chapter covers post-monarchic Iran. It deals with the reign of
Khomeini and his heirs, highlighting their treatment of Iranian women,
the darkest aspect of their rule. Contrasts are drawn between internationally
recognized norms and standards on women's rights, and the laws of the
clerical state.

Chapter three offers perhaps one of the few readings of Islam's approach to
women and their individual and social rights. Relying on the holy book, the
Quran, and the actual practices of the Prophet of Islam with respect to
women, this chapter tries to demonstrate that pristine Islam, contrary to
what the Iranian mullahs propound, or conventional wisdom might have
us believe, views women as equal with men in every respect, in their
private, social, political and economic lives. For reasons of space and time,
this chapter is naturally not as complete as its subject matter deserves.
Nevertheless, it is a beginning, addressing both the liberating message of
Islam and the codes of conduct contained in the Quran vis-à-vis the issue of
women's rights at the time of the Prophet, some 1,400 years ago.

Chapter four deals with the history of women's role in the Resistance
movement against the current regime. Going back to the first days of the
Revolution, when the new order had assumed power, it tries to inform the
reader of the difficulties of the struggle for women's rights by a Muslim
organization faced with a regime that considered itself the "guardian of
Islam" and whose leader claimed to be the vice-regent of God on earth.

Chapter five introduces the architect of the Iranian women's remarkable
advancement within the ranks of the Resistance. Maryam Rajavi, with 25
years of struggle against two dictatorships, provides a vivid example of belief
in freedom and equality. Her emergence as the focal point of hope for all
Iranians, especially women, offers an antithesis to the fundamentalist,
misogynious mullahs of Iran.